Terminal Media Delusion

Among the most myopic of the various factions within the American ruling class is what is generically known as the mainstream media. Over the past ten years it has become painfully obvious that as a group they are determined to self-destruct while willing to accommodate, promote, or as necessary, turn a blind eye towards the devastating policies of the Left that will be the catalyst for their potential demise.A majority of the media chooses, either deliberately or out of ignorance, to obscure the reality that the American Left and Barack Obama are destroying the viability of the economy and culture, and ultimately their own future and standard of living.

This lack of coherence was never more manifest than the media's slavish fawning over an unknown, but politically correct, Barack Obama in the 2008 election. Their continued loyalty despite his myriad failings, his palpable disinterest in the job of President and his obstinate dedication to disastrous policies reveals their ideological blindness. Meanwhile the landscape of the once mighty journalism community is one of utter devastation brought about in great part by their overt liberal bias and this kind of sycophantic behavior over the past twenty plus years.

Among many examples of this unreported decline and fall are:

The New York Times Company, often considered the bellwether of the national media, has reduced its labor force by 47% (6,600 jobs) since 2000. The average daily circulation for the Times has dropped by over 20% (226,000 readers) during the same period. The Company has been liquidating as many assets as possible in order to stay afloat -- they now have few viable assets left to sell.

The Washington Post, the other most influential newspaper in the country, has seen its average daily circulation drop by 30% (237,000 readers) since 2000. More devastating has been the plummet in print advertising revenue which has dropped by over 55% since 2000. They too have made major reductions in their labor force.

Among the largest chain of newspapers in the country, the McClatchy Company has experienced a similar downturn. Since acquiring the Knight-Ridder chain in 2006 the Company has seen its average daily circulation decline from 2.84 million readers to 2.05 (a drop of 28% in only four years). Many of the individual papers within the group have resorted to massive layoffs and selling assets as not only circulation but ad revenue has dropped precipitously.

The Gannet family of newspapers (the largest in the country) has lost over 2 million in paid circulation since 2000 (28%) while their ad revenue has dropped by 44%.

Since 2000 total U.S. newspaper circulation has fallen by nearly 11 million readers (20%).

The traditional news magazines (Time, Newsweek and US News & World Report) have experienced even more devastating results since 2000. Their readership has declined by over 3.6 million (40%). Advertising revenue has dropped by nearly 65%. A clear indicator of the demise of this media sector is the sale of Newsweek by the Washington Post Company for $1.00.

In an attempt to offset the drastic decline in their core businesses all the various media companies have made a foray into the internet; however, the revenue generated by that sector does not begin to make up for the ongoing financial hemorrhaging.

The mainstream media is first and foremost a business. Like any business it must generate revenue, pay its bills and make a profit for its shareholders. To produce income it must attract customers (advertisers and subscribers) to buy its product (the news as well as viewers or readers). Based on the results over the past ten years it is obvious that the product the mainstream media is promoting is not selling well.

When a failing business model is combined with a general economy being deliberately driven into a ditch because of ideology, there is much less money available to be spent on non-essential products. All the worse when there is considerable competition and other options.

Rather than understanding the basics of the market and how capitalism has enabled many in the mainstream media to live extremely comfortable lives, the most important and fashionable matter for a majority in the media has been to protect their lifestyles against an imagined right-wing horde determined to create a theocracy, and to assuage their racial and economic guilt by paying lip service to "social justice." A mindset easily in tune with and exploited by the Marxist/socialist true-believers on the Left.

As long as the United States experienced unprecedented peace and prosperity, and a belief that scenario would never end, and concurrent with the state of mind that the worst could never happen here, the majority of those in the media willingly succumbed to group-think mentality and the controlling agenda of the Left they in many cases unwittingly supported.

Because of the collectivist policies of the Left (and their take-over of the Democratic Party) the short and long-term prospects for the United States are dire. A jobless rate that in reality is over 11%, and projected to stay high far into the future; a national debt about to exceed 100% of the GDP; government at all levels on course to consume 50% of the GDP, leaving precious little wealth for job creation as well as a higher standard of living for future generations, and an administration and political party determined to control the day-to-day activities of all Americans.

Yet many in the media are still caught up in the old paradigm of good versus evil wherein conservatives are evil and liberals are good. Despite the fact that quite a few have experienced or know of others in their profession with first-hand knowledge lay-offs, salary reductions and virtually no job prospects, they never seem to ask why or what will the future be for their chosen profession, much less the country as a whole.

A cursory examination of history will show the utter failure of all nation states composed of a massive central government siphoning the wealth of the people in an attempt to theoretically re-distribute it based on the whims of those in power. The mainstream media is learning that devastating lesson in the aggregate if not the individual members of that fraternity.

Yet like so many on the Left, a majority of the members of the mainstream media are incapable of recognizing their error in blindly supporting the liberal/socialist agenda over the years. Regardless of the evidence at hand, either historic or contemporary, their egos and narcissism so dominate their psyche that admitting a mistake is tantamount to personality apocalypse. Thus they appear willing to sacrifice their own future and standard of living rather than honestly report on the lies and machinations of Barack Obama and his fellow travelers.

The only way the mainstream media can recover from its accelerating death spiral is to begin eliminating its overt bias and to have the economy make a dramatic recovery, as it did under the policies of Ronald Reagan, so there will be more wealth and discretionary income for all Americans to spend. As the majority of the media chooses not to acknowledge these factors, then the question must be asked: if the members of the media do not care about their immediate future or that of the country, do they not care about the lives their children and grandchildren will lead?

Among the most myopic of the various factions within the American ruling class is what is generically known as the mainstream media. Over the past ten years it has become painfully obvious that as a group they are determined to self-destruct while willing to accommodate, promote, or as necessary, turn a blind eye towards the devastating policies of the Left that will be the catalyst for their potential demise.

A majority of the media chooses, either deliberately or out of ignorance, to obscure the reality that the American Left and Barack Obama are destroying the viability of the economy and culture, and ultimately their own future and standard of living.

This lack of coherence was never more manifest than the media's slavish fawning over an unknown, but politically correct, Barack Obama in the 2008 election. Their continued loyalty despite his myriad failings, his palpable disinterest in the job of President and his obstinate dedication to disastrous policies reveals their ideological blindness. Meanwhile the landscape of the once mighty journalism community is one of utter devastation brought about in great part by their overt liberal bias and this kind of sycophantic behavior over the past twenty plus years.

Among many examples of this unreported decline and fall are:

The New York Times Company, often considered the bellwether of the national media, has reduced its labor force by 47% (6,600 jobs) since 2000. The average daily circulation for the Times has dropped by over 20% (226,000 readers) during the same period. The Company has been liquidating as many assets as possible in order to stay afloat -- they now have few viable assets left to sell.

The Washington Post, the other most influential newspaper in the country, has seen its average daily circulation drop by 30% (237,000 readers) since 2000. More devastating has been the plummet in print advertising revenue which has dropped by over 55% since 2000. They too have made major reductions in their labor force.

Among the largest chain of newspapers in the country, the McClatchy Company has experienced a similar downturn. Since acquiring the Knight-Ridder chain in 2006 the Company has seen its average daily circulation decline from 2.84 million readers to 2.05 (a drop of 28% in only four years). Many of the individual papers within the group have resorted to massive layoffs and selling assets as not only circulation but ad revenue has dropped precipitously.

The Gannet family of newspapers (the largest in the country) has lost over 2 million in paid circulation since 2000 (28%) while their ad revenue has dropped by 44%.

Since 2000 total U.S. newspaper circulation has fallen by nearly 11 million readers (20%).

The traditional news magazines (Time, Newsweek and US News & World Report) have experienced even more devastating results since 2000. Their readership has declined by over 3.6 million (40%). Advertising revenue has dropped by nearly 65%. A clear indicator of the demise of this media sector is the sale of Newsweek by the Washington Post Company for $1.00.

In an attempt to offset the drastic decline in their core businesses all the various media companies have made a foray into the internet; however, the revenue generated by that sector does not begin to make up for the ongoing financial hemorrhaging.

The mainstream media is first and foremost a business. Like any business it must generate revenue, pay its bills and make a profit for its shareholders. To produce income it must attract customers (advertisers and subscribers) to buy its product (the news as well as viewers or readers). Based on the results over the past ten years it is obvious that the product the mainstream media is promoting is not selling well.

When a failing business model is combined with a general economy being deliberately driven into a ditch because of ideology, there is much less money available to be spent on non-essential products. All the worse when there is considerable competition and other options.

Rather than understanding the basics of the market and how capitalism has enabled many in the mainstream media to live extremely comfortable lives, the most important and fashionable matter for a majority in the media has been to protect their lifestyles against an imagined right-wing horde determined to create a theocracy, and to assuage their racial and economic guilt by paying lip service to "social justice." A mindset easily in tune with and exploited by the Marxist/socialist true-believers on the Left.

As long as the United States experienced unprecedented peace and prosperity, and a belief that scenario would never end, and concurrent with the state of mind that the worst could never happen here, the majority of those in the media willingly succumbed to group-think mentality and the controlling agenda of the Left they in many cases unwittingly supported.

Because of the collectivist policies of the Left (and their take-over of the Democratic Party) the short and long-term prospects for the United States are dire. A jobless rate that in reality is over 11%, and projected to stay high far into the future; a national debt about to exceed 100% of the GDP; government at all levels on course to consume 50% of the GDP, leaving precious little wealth for job creation as well as a higher standard of living for future generations, and an administration and political party determined to control the day-to-day activities of all Americans.

Yet many in the media are still caught up in the old paradigm of good versus evil wherein conservatives are evil and liberals are good. Despite the fact that quite a few have experienced or know of others in their profession with first-hand knowledge lay-offs, salary reductions and virtually no job prospects, they never seem to ask why or what will the future be for their chosen profession, much less the country as a whole.

A cursory examination of history will show the utter failure of all nation states composed of a massive central government siphoning the wealth of the people in an attempt to theoretically re-distribute it based on the whims of those in power. The mainstream media is learning that devastating lesson in the aggregate if not the individual members of that fraternity.

Yet like so many on the Left, a majority of the members of the mainstream media are incapable of recognizing their error in blindly supporting the liberal/socialist agenda over the years. Regardless of the evidence at hand, either historic or contemporary, their egos and narcissism so dominate their psyche that admitting a mistake is tantamount to personality apocalypse. Thus they appear willing to sacrifice their own future and standard of living rather than honestly report on the lies and machinations of Barack Obama and his fellow travelers.

The only way the mainstream media can recover from its accelerating death spiral is to begin eliminating its overt bias and to have the economy make a dramatic recovery, as it did under the policies of Ronald Reagan, so there will be more wealth and discretionary income for all Americans to spend. As the majority of the media chooses not to acknowledge these factors, then the question must be asked: if the members of the media do not care about their immediate future or that of the country, do they not care about the lives their children and grandchildren will lead?